


All tied up and twisted

by seratonation



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Control Issues, Handcuffs, Light Bondage, M/M, Multi, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-17
Updated: 2013-10-17
Packaged: 2017-12-29 16:20:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seratonation/pseuds/seratonation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Clint want Bruce to let them in, to trust them, to make him feel good, but Bruce is afraid he'll lose control and hurt them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All tied up and twisted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sharpiesgal (TigerLily)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/gifts).



“I don't think I can do this,” Bruce says.

Tony puts down the material that's in his hand. “Just the blindfold or all of it?”

Bruce hesitates, considering. “All of it.”

“Do you want us to let you down?” Clint asks, reaching for the cuffs.

Bruce shakes his head, so Clint pauses and grins down at him instead. 

“We talked about this,” Tony says, “use the grading system if you think you’re in trouble, 1 is everything is good, 2 is slow down, 3 is stop. We're not going to hurt you.”

“That’s not the problem and you know it,” Bruce snaps.

“Tony,” Clint says gently, “you're gonna freak him out and we haven't even started.”

“Let me - let me down please,” Bruce says, not meeting their eyes, “I can't have this discussion again, especially not like this.”

Clint presses his lips together and undoes the handcuffs that are keeping Bruce suspended from the bed frame. Bruce lowers his arms as soon as he can and massages his wrists. He pushes past Clint and climbs out of bed, leaving the room and a minute later they hear another door close. 

Clint looks at Tony, trying to reign in his anger and failing. “Look what you did.”

“ _I_ did?” Tony says, “I know he wants this, we get closer every time.”

“You're going too fast, you're pushing too hard.”

“I just want to make him feel good,” Tony says, “that's not a bad thing.”

“We promised we’d take it slow.”

“Slower than this?” Tony says, throwing down the tie that was still in his hand, “how long has it been since we started asking?”

“He’s not ready,” Clint says. 

Tony lets out an angry breath and lies down on the bed. He doesn't remember getting up to his knees but he sees Clint backing down as well.

“I want this too,” Clint says, “but we have to respect his boundaries.” 

Tony sighs again, this time heavy hearted. “I do,” he replies, “I just wish there was a way we could help him get over this.”

“I know,” Clint says, then he presses a kiss to the corner of Tony's mouth, “I'm going to see if he's okay.”

Clint pads out and heads to Bruce's room. They hardly ever use their separate rooms, but Tony had insisted they all have their own space. 

He gently knocks on the door and waits. A second later the door opens a crack and when Bruce sees it’s Clint he opens the door the whole way. 

“How mad is he?” Bruce asks.

“He’s not mad,” Clint says, “and neither am I.” He walks further into the room and Bruce closes the door behind him.

Clint takes in Bruce's t-shirt and flannel pyjama pants and feels under-dressed in only his underwear. He crosses his arms over his chest but it doesn't help.

“Did you wanna talk about it?” Clint asks.

“Not particularly, no,” Bruce replies, giving him a wry look. 

“Then come back to bed,” Clint says, “we don't have to do anything tonight, just sleep.”

Bruce nods slowly. “Okay.”

“Come on,” he says, takes Bruce's wrist and pulls him back to their shared bedroom.

Bruce slides into bed first and the moment he settles, Tony wraps himself around him. “Sorry,” he mumbles, and presses a kiss to Bruce's neck, and another to his shoulder, over the material of his shirt. 

Bruce puts a hand over Tony's, and the other reaches out to find Clint. “It’s alright,” he whispers, “we can talk about it tomorrow.”

None of them sleep though, not for a long time.

***

Tony clutches at the blankets and buries his head in his pillow. He is not ready to face the morning yet. He needs something close to 5 more years of sleep, and then maybe, with a cup of coffee, he’ll consider it. 

“You can’t hide forever,” Clint’s voice drifts through his blanket cocoon.

“‘m not,” Tony mumbles.

“You’re not hiding?” Clint asked.

“Not forever,” he says, then, “you’re one to talk.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Clint throws back, “I learned my lesson, remember?”

Tony sighs and pushes the blankets away, sitting up and turning away from Clint. “Yeah,” he says, “sorry.”

“I know,” Clint replies, gently placing his hands on Tony’s biceps and squeezing, “the sooner we do this, the sooner we can move past it.”

He presses a kiss to Tony’s shoulder and Tony feels the bed dip and hears the door close as Clint leaves. He covers his face with both hands and lets his shoulders sag. He resists the urge to crawl back under the covers and stands up. 

He splashes some water on his face, puts a t-shirt on and makes his way to the kitchen. He avoids eye contact with them both, making a beeline for the coffee pot instead. When the warm mug is safely nestled in his hands he finally turns around and faces them.

“You should stop acting so guilty,” Bruce says from his place by the toaster, his eyebrow raised.

“Do we really need to talk about this again?” he asks. 

“Yes,” Bruce says, “because it doesn't look like it got through last time.”

“Look,” Tony starts, sitting down on the table where Clint is slouched low in his chair, “we trust you, we trust you enough for the three of us.”

“You really shouldn’t,” Bruce says, grabbing his toast and sitting down with them, “I’m dangerous.” 

“You have it under control,” Tony insists, “when was the last time you lost it? On the helicarrier? Under Loki’s control? That doesn't count, it wasn’t you.”

“You've said it enough times to me,” Clint says quietly, speaking for the first time.

“When was the last time before that? Harlem?” Tony asks, insistent.

“This is different,” Bruce says, “it’s easy to let him out, keeping him in is the hardest thing, and if I’m not in control, if I lose focus… I don't want to hurt you.”

“Aren’t you tired of being alone?” Clint asks, leaning forward, arms crossed on the table, “aren’t you exhausted of always shutting us out?”

“Listen, this isn’t something that can just be fixed,” he says, “it’s not something I can just take out when it gets to be too much, I have to live with it, forever.”

“We’re not asking to fix it,” Clint says, “we’re just asking for you to let us in, for you to trust us back.”

“I do,” he says, leaning forward, “more than anything, I’m just not sure I trust myself.”

Clint smiles. “We have enough between us, I think.”

Tony grins and leans back in his chair. “Such losers, all of us.”

Bruce laughs. “I think we’re doing alright.”

***

“Okay, are you ready for this?” 

Bruce bites his lip and nods.

Clint kisses the corner of his mouth. “You’re doing great.”

“You’re sure these will hold?” he asks, pulling at the cuffs. 

“They’re the finest grade titanium alloy there is,” Tony says, “nothing short of Thor’s hammer can break through them, personal guarantee.”

Clint snickers. “Hammer.”

Tony gives him a look but Bruce just laughs softly. “Dork,” he says fondly.

“You love it,” Clint says, grinning up at him.

“Yeah,” he says, smiling, “hey,” he turns to Tony, “I think, if you still wanted to use the blindfold-”

“Really?” Tony asks, excited. 

“Yeah,” he says, “but you take it off if I say so.”

“Yes, just, one second,” he says, and almost falls out of the bed in his haste.

Bruce closes his eyes before he feels the material go over his face and tighten around the back of his head.

“How’s that?” 

“Good,” he says, “tell me - tell me what he’s doing.”

As Tony narrates Clint’s movements, moments before Bruce feels them on his skin, he feels something else, something settle in his chest. As he pulls at the handcuffs and tries to get more of them, as his toes curl and he sees stars, he thinks maybe he doesn't need to trust himself. 

Maybe the person he needs to trust is the other guy.


End file.
